The Air Force cross country team, including the 29th-ranked men's squad, returns to action this Friday (Nov. 15), when it travels to Riverdale, Utah, for the 2013 NCAA Mountain Region Championships. The meet, hosted by Weber State, is slated to begin at noon with the men's 10K race.

MEET INFORMATION
The 2013 NCAA Mountain Region Cross Country Championships will take place throughout Schneiter's Riverside Golf Course in Riverdale, Utah. The men's 10K will begin at noon, while the women's 6K race is slated for a 1:15 p.m. start.

A LOOK AT THE REGION
Three of the top-five men's teams in the USTFCCCA National Rankings - and seven of the top 30 - reside in the Mountain Region. Colorado and Northern Arizona are ranked first and second, respectively, while BYU (fifth) New Mexico (11th), Colorado State (23rd), Southern Utah (27th) and Air Force (29th) are also ranked. The women's field boasts two nationally-ranked teams, as New Mexico (eighth) and Colorado (10th) are both listed in the national poll.

HOW IT WORKS
The regional championship meets server as the primary feeder to the upcoming NCAA Cross Country Championships. The top two teams from each of the nine regional championship sites (West, Mountain, Midwest, South Central, Great Lakes, South, Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, Northeast), as well as the top four individuals not on an advancing team, will receive an automatic berth to the national meet. Additional teams and individuals are chosen at an at-large basis.

MEN REMAIN NATIONALLY RANKED
The men's team remained listed among the nation's top teams in the Nov. 5 USTFCCCA National Rankings, tying with Washington for 29th in the weekly poll. The Falcons have received at least one vote in every weekly poll this season.

BRAGG WINS FIRST MOUNTAIN WEST TITLE; NAMED MW ATHLETE OF THE YEARIsaiah Bragg became the program's first Mountain West champion on Nov. 1, when he clocked a course-record time of 24:08.39 to win the conference meet by four seconds. Bragg, the 2013 MW Student-Athlete of the Year, is the third conference cross country champion in Academy history, joining former Western Athletic Conference (WAC) champions Chris Nelson (1990, 1991) and Eric Mack (1995).

EVERSON MAKES HISTORY WITH ALL-CONFERENCE FIRST-TEAM STATUSHannah Everson claimed the highest placement by a female runner in a Division I conference championship meet, as she finished fifth with a 6K time of 21:41.07. Everson, who bettered the previous best finish of eighth that was set in 2005, also became the program's first female to garner first-team all-conference distinction.

FOUR FALCONS EARN CONFERENCE HONORS
Four Falcons claimed all-conference honors based on their finishes at the Mountain West Championships. In addition to the first-team accolades collected by Isaiah Bragg and Hannah Everson, Patrick Corona and Annette Eichenberger earned second-team honors for the men and women, respectively. Corona finished 13th in the men's race, while Eichenberger placed ninth in the women's event.

WOMEN BOAST ALL-MW PAIR FOR SECOND-STRAIGHT YEAR
For the second straight year, the women collected a pair of all-conference selections. Hannah Everson (fifth, first-team) and Annette Eichenberger (ninth, second-team) claimed all-league honors based on their top-16 finishes at the MW Championships. It is only the second time in program history that the Falcons have recorded a pair of honors, joining the duo of Melissa Fuerst and Jen Bremser one year ago.

MEN FINISH THIRD AT CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Backed by all-MW honorees Isaiah Bragg (first) and Patrick Corona (13th), the men placed third at the Mountain West Championships. The remaining three members of the Falcons' scoring party all earned top-25 finishes, as Zach Perkins (21st), Riley Coates (22nd) and Elliot Myers (23rd) crossed the line in consecutive finishes.

WOMEN MISS THIRD BY JUST ONE POINT
The women tallied 118 points to finish fourth in the conference championships for the fifth straight year - missing third by just one point. Hannah Everson (fifth) and Annette Eichenberger (ninth) paced the Falcons with all-MW honors, while Samantha Skold (34th), Lindy Long (37th) and Taylor Drolshagen (39th) rounded out the contingent of scoring runners.

THE NEXT COURSE
The 2013 cross country season comes to a close with the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., on Saturday, Nov. 23.